First national police service in the world to be certified for energy management
An Garda Síochána is the first police service in the world to achieve the globally recognised international energy management standard (ISO 50001). Since starting the project for certification the organisation has saved over €9 million in energy costs, and further savings are expected as ISO 50001 is rolled out across all Garda Stations.
Mike Dodd, Financial Accountant for An Garda Síochána said: "An Garda Síochána is the first national police service in the world to achieve ISO 50001 certification, achieving energy savings of 21.9% and energy cost savings of 9.3%.”
An Garda Síochána recently earned the top award, the Award of Excellence, at the 2018 Energy Management Leadership awards in Denmark. This award was given by the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), a high-level global forum that promotes policies and programmes to advance clean energy. Two of the key sponsoring architects of the forum are the EU and The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). An independent panel of international experts selected only three organisations worldwide for this top honour in energy management.
An Garda Síochána’s certification is a result of eight years hard work by the implementation team tasked with reducing energy costs across the service. In 2015, An Garda Síochána set an ambitious target to achieve the ISO 50001 standard for energy management. ISO 50001 certification was received from Certification Europe in May 2016 for the Garda Headquarters site in Phoenix Park, Dublin and its entire transport fleet. An Garda Síochána is committed to extending ISO 50001 across the entire organisation, and recently extended the accreditation to the Garda College.
Using an ISO 50001 certified energy management system across its transport fleet and at two of its largest sites, Garda Headquarters and Garda College, An Garda Síochána has saved €9.6 Million and reduced its CO2 emissions by 70,340 metric tons over eight years.
Garda staff have developed an operational control system to ensure efficient energy use on a continuous basis. Key achievements include:
· Lighting: Ensuring lights are switched off outside of regular office hours and, if necessary, turning off respective lights and informing assistant energy manager;
· Heating: Ensuring heating schedules and operational parameters are maintained satisfactorily according to pre-determined set points;
· Ventilation & Cooling: Ensuring that parameters such as temperature set points and schedules do not deviate from effective energy performance;
· Transport Operational Control: Ensuring that all vehicles are serviced at regularly defined intervals based on vehicle type. Garda Transport staff carry out audits of maintenance contractors to ensure vehicles are maintained to optimal performance.
Under the ISO 50001 certification, An Garda Síochána has achieved significant savings across the organisation reducing energy consumption by:
· 810,827 GJ (21.9% saving).
· CO2 Emissions by 70,340 tCO2 (22.2% saving) versus the baseline year 2009.
· Energy cost savings of €9.6 Million (9.3% saving vs 2009).
· The organisations target is to reach at least 33% improvement in its energy performance by 2020. To date, An Garda Síochána are exceeding their performance target and have achieved 21.5%
Note
What is ISO 50001:2011 Energy Management System?
ISO 50001 Energy Management System certification provides a framework for establishing energy management best practice to help organisations to improve their energy efficiency plus make a return on investment by implementing ISO 50001. The standard enables organisations to establish the systems and processes necessary to improve energy performance, including energy efficiency, use, and consumption.
The ISO 50001 standard is a cost-effective framework to help organizations manage and continually improve their energy performance and realize cost and emission reductions. Regardless of an organization’s size or sector, this framework helps maintain and build energy and cost savings year after year. ISO 50001 is a product of international collaboration, drawing on best practices from over 50 countries and demonstrating impressive savings. The standard is proven to be business-friendly, globally relevant, and transformational, as it embeds best practices into any organization and provides a global benchmark for clean energy action.
Additional information:
· Case Study: This has further details on the work An Garda Síochána Energy Team have done to win the Globally recognised Energy Management award.
· 2018 Energy Management Leadership Awards: Full details on the award itself.
